Man, I am LOVING this new version. Played 4 games online so far and they've all felt great. I really like how much more fluid and unpredictable puck control is over NHL12. It seemed far too easy to get the puck glued to your stick in 12, now it's all over the place. And my AI teammates actually do stuff to help.

Man, I am LOVING this new version. Played 4 games online so far and they've all felt great. I really like how much more fluid and unpredictable puck control is over NHL12. It seemed far too easy to get the puck glued to your stick in 12, now it's all over the place. And my AI teammates actually do stuff to help.

Yeah, I'm really glad I broke down and bought 13 this year. I was going to pass on it, but this one is definitely an improvement and I'm loving how everything handles. Been playing mostly HUT but it's good to see that puck get knocked all over the place, people missing slapshots/passes more often, etc, even with real teams. I'm really excited to play the crap out of this

Five of us have signed up to the league, so far. Just reminder, wait to play game until we settle on who al is in. It still looks like I can't send invites after the initial creation. So you have to search for GWJHL. League thread here.

"I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave." - Castiel

The only online I've played so far is couple of HUT games. I won the first one 2-1 in OT. But I got smoked 5-1 in the second game.

At least in HUT, the game feels much slower online. I don't know if that is good or bad, but it is definitely something to get used to. I will be interested to see if our online games in the league feel slower than the CPU games.

"I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave." - Castiel

I've got about 6 HUT games (one online that had some lag) under my belt and my hand is sore as hell from mashing the LS in attempt to fake the game into making my guys skate faster. There really is a different feel to the lower level players this year. I do like the momentum with the skating, though--once you get up to full speed or you're really rushing, there's no turning on a dime. It takes some getting used two when attacking the net, that's for sure.

Just choose your grip by moving RS to the left or right, but try to choose before your opponent. Yu get a boost for choosing first. Of course, when you choose, the opponent can choose a grip to counteract your selection. So it's still basically fair.

Then I just pull the RS down from being held to the left or right along the curve when I see the ref's hand move. I win better than 50% most every game.

I think goal variety has been excellent. If you are getting burned in one area, it's probably more indicative of what you are giving your opponent. I am swapping from Tight Point to Collapsing depending on what I'm seeing during the game. The CPU seeks to exploit whatever strategy you use. If noting else, the commentators will spell it out for you.

I think EA is really forcing more strategic play this year. And they've given a ton of tools to not just affect the strategy each line uses, but even another four tendencies that affect how the line carries out the strategy. For defense I believe their are three tendencies. I haven't taken time to see how much of an effect they have, but it will be worth our while to invest some time in creating our own custom AI's.

"I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave." - Castiel

One way is to move the right stick in the direction of the faceoff player's "handedness" before the puck drop. So if a player is right handed, hold the right stick hard right. The skater will sort of "settle in". Just as the ref drops the puck, push up on the left stick and rotate the right stick down toward you (from three o'clock to six o'clock). If it works, your skater will rotate in a circle and flip the puck backwards to one of your defensemen.

Another way is to hold the right stick in the opposite direction of his handedness - so for a right handed player, hold the right stick hard left. Just as the puck drops, rotate the right stick UP (9 o'clock to 12 o'clock) and press the left stick forward. If it works the skater will charge forward and flip the puck backwards at the same time.

The trick is the timing - you need to start moving the sticks right before the ref drops the puck. I've also noticed that lag sometimes affects this. There have been games where I couldn't win a face off all game - one game I remember being 0 for 18. I'm positive I'm not THAT bad.

One way is to move the right stick in the direction of the faceoff player's "handedness" before the puck drop. So if a player is right handed, hold the right stick hard right. The skater will sort of "settle in". Just as the ref drops the puck, push up on the left stick and rotate the right stick down toward you (from three o'clock to six o'clock). If it works, your skater will rotate in a circle and flip the puck backwards to one of your defensemen.

Another way is to hold the right stick in the opposite direction of his handedness - so for a right handed player, hold the right stick hard left. Just as the puck drops, rotate the right stick UP (9 o'clock to 12 o'clock) and press the left stick forward. If it works the skater will charge forward and flip the puck backwards at the same time.

The trick is the timing - you need to start moving the sticks right before the ref drops the puck. I've also noticed that lag sometimes affects this. There have been games where I couldn't win a face off all game - one game I remember being 0 for 18. I'm positive I'm not THAT bad.

The interactive tutorial is pretty good at explaining faceoffs by the way. Who would have thought?

You wanna move your RS left/right as soon as possible and keep it there. Then, as soon as the referee starts moving his arm you pull on the RS to send the puck backwards or push forward to lift the stick.

"I assure you, I have no -- nor have I had any -- ill will toward anyone in these threads aside from Green, but we all despise that aggrandizing turd." - ColdForged

I think goal variety has been excellent. If you are getting burned in one area, it's probably more indicative of what you are giving your opponent. I am swapping from Tight Point to Collapsing depending on what I'm seeing during the game. The CPU seeks to exploit whatever strategy you use. If noting else, the commentators will spell it out for you.

The more I play HUT, the more I love it. And the more I wish I had more friends partaking!

The mode is a lot different from last year. For one, it feels like the NHL either forced or paid EA to make the game more NHL centric. When you get your first starter pack, you get two lower tier players from your favorite team (Huskins and Nichols were my Blues), as well as their jerseys and logo.

So far, every single HUT team I have played, whether offline or online, the team has NHL jerseys and Logos. This is radically different from last year where finding cool minor league or European jerseys and logos made each team feel much more individualized. This is not that big of a deal, bt it really changed one huge thing in the auction house.

Last year, when you opened a pack and got an NHL jersey, you could got the auction and flip it for pucks, as many, many players wanted to get their favorite team's jerseys. Heck, even though I had my normal minor league jerseys from my team, I still picked up some Blues jerseys. This year, everybody starts with their favorite home team jersey. So when you pick up another NHL jersey, no one wants it. They are worthless.

To make matters worse, as I opened more packs, I got more Blues jerseys, including our awesome dark blue Alt. So getting Alts are probably not even going to be worthwhile, if the game funnels your favorite team's stuff to you. What does go for a lot of pucks are some of the better minor league and European jerseys. They are both rare now, and getting one with just a cool logo, but no words is a bonus.

Economically, it makes the most sense to stick with your NHL jerseys, which means that is all you see when you play. I miss the random jerseys, but I'm sure the NHL likes this promotion.

But more than that, you get far more NHL players. The number of minor league and European players is a tiny fraction of last year. This also means that you get less spread in ratings. Last year you would have low 70 and even high 60 guys playing significant minutes along with some well placed NHL guys. My entire team is NHL players now, and the range from 79-89.

So again, the game is still marketing the NHL primarily. It sucks away the fun of grabbing that young kid with 12 open training sots that you slowly built up to be a solid player. None of my younger players get on the ice at all. And with no career limits, probably never will.

But that brings up another coupe of weird changes. Those training cards you use to build up your guys. They are still there. But instead of being good for the life of that card, the boost lasts for one game. I can play a ton of training cards on a guy, build him up, only to have him revert to his normal low ratings after one game. It's being called a glitch by some, but it is actually the way the team wants to implement the new system.

Mostly I just ignore all of my training cards now. I am trying to find a good system for how i want to use them. Maybe on my lower tier guys that may come up and play when I run out of contracts is the way to go. Maybe I will save them for big tourneys.

And contract cards. Well, these are more rare now. Last year you could buy what were called Consumable packs. These has Contracts, Training, and Healing cards. This year, you just have to hope they come in your regular packs. I spent some time early on trying to buy them on the cheap in th auction house. But when I ran the numbers, they just weren't adding up.

You suit up 20 players every game. Twelve forwards, six defensmen, and two goalies. That is 20 games you have to account for every time you play. So when I bought a 20 game contract card for 300-350 pucks, it was hard to profit.

Playing offline, I was averaging 350-400 pucks a game. I've started improving my play and playing online. I've seen my puck rewards jump to 550-650 pucks a game. But when you factor in that you basically have to pay your players, the cheaper you can get contract cards the better. And the more pucks you earn per game the better.

So that's what got me playing online more. But get this, online play has been fantastic so far. The new skating mechanics and the difficulty in hitting results in far less cheese. I'm 3-3-1 online so are, and every game has been a blast. Well, minus the 5-0 blowout I suffered. But I am starting to score 4-5 goals in many games, and the games are tight.

This morning I played a guy who seemed much better than me. My new strategy is to basically go conservative. Not turtle, but conservative breakouts, contain puck defensive pressure, more passive forecheck, with an emphasis on the neutral zone. Most guys are used to the fact that everyone wants to play and up and dwon game, and they struggle when you don't give them lanes.

I got down 1-0, but came back to tie the game 1-1 before the first period was over. In the second, I gave up two goals and was outshot pretty severely. So as the third period started with a 3-1 deficit, I started to increase my forecheck and breakout. It was clear he had gotten used to my conservative style as I suddenly was roaming free in his end. I popped in a goal to make 3-2 and the game was on. Or so I thought, as he scored to go up 4-2.

But my strategy still worked, and I scored two more goals in the period, including the game tying goal with 20+ seconds left. We then played a scoreless OT, as I went back to more conservative play. I scored on my first shootout attempt, and thought I was golden. But he scored on his second and third attempts to win in the shootout.

So I lost. But I picked up 650+ pucks, and it was a blast of a game. Lots of strategy, drama, and fun.

"I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave." - Castiel

You can see how many cards and rares (read that as cards worth using or selling) each pack will give you. I can understand why this is a big turn-off when there are so many great modes of pay you don't have to spend $$$ for. But I really enjoy the strategic elements involved in this mode.

Heck, I didn't even get into Chemistry, which is another whole discussion on how to improve your team.

"I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave." - Castiel

And contract cards. Well, these are more rare now. Last year you could buy what were called Consumable packs. These has Contracts, Training, and Healing cards. This year, you just have to hope they come in your regular packs. I spent some time early on trying to buy them on the cheap in th auction house. But when I ran the numbers, they just weren't adding up.

I think they replaced the Consumable packs with the Bronze level packs. Every time I've bought one they've had mostly contracts and some healing/training cards.

Jayhawker wrote:

You suit up 20 players every game. Twelve forwards, six defensmen, and two goalies. That is 20 games you have to account for every time you play. So when I bought a 20 game contract card for 300-350 pucks, it was hard to profit.

Maybe I'm not understanding what you're you're saying. The 20 game contract card applies to everyone on your team, or just one specific skater? As I see it, every player has their own contract, and when it runs out, you apply a contract card for the amount of time to keep that particular player playing. And, if you're buying the bronze packs, and those are 600 points for a handful of contract cards. I basically have my whole team on 12 game contracts now and I'm just stacking the cards for the time being. Although admittingly I haven't poked around the auction house too much to do a cost analysis on buying cards through there. I've mostly just been playing the rookie tournament to make sure I get pucks

You can also do the NHL Moments Live challenges to get pucks as well. Not sure how time effective it is going that route, but for anyone who might be shying away from online play and still want to build a HUT team that's an option.

My time with the Online HUT has been so-so. If I have to face freaking Gretzky one more damn time... Even still, I'm enjoying the game a lot more than I was last year and it doesn't seem (at least right now) that there's a whole lot of cheese going on.